When Allison Cloos graduated from Oregon State University in 2009, she entered the job market during one of the worst economic times in U.S. history with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to her name.

She found a decent job at a restaurant and started making the $250 monthly loan payments. But she soon decided to pursue an advanced degree and put the loans on deferment.

Six years later, in 2016, she decided to suspend her pursuit of a doctorate of English literature at the University of Oregon. Though she had a 200-page – but unfinished – dissertation in hand, her doctoral fellowship funding had dried up and the only other option was to take on more debt.

So while student loans made it possible for her to get an education, they ultimately compelled her to walk away.

"It was a strategic move on my part," Cloos, now 31, said of her decision to leave school.

The Oregonian native's story illustrates the crushing financial reality that comes due after graduation day: The loans that make paying tuition and fees possible have to be paid back and, in most cases, with interest.

She's not alone. At least 44 million Americans are carrying some student loan debt, estimates show, and collectively owe nearly $1.4 trillion. That's greater than the U.S. total for credit card debt.

Allison Cloos said she has around $40,000 in student loans from her undergraduate date, which grew in interest while she deferred the loans for six years and pursued a doctorate degree.Courtesy of Allison Cloos

For many young adults, such loans represent their first big encounter with debt. According to a 2016 report from the Institute for College Access & Success, the average graduate in the Class of 2015 still owed $30,100 for their education.

"It's an additional cost that's making us put everything off," she said of the student loan crisis. "I'm wondering if I can afford to have kids in the next couple of years."

Those students have to navigate an onerous financial aid system, where deadlines for scholarships and grants can vary by state, and they must juggle applications to specific schools and programs where costs can be onerous and tough to assess.

But Cloos is now taking a work-it-off approach to pay down the roughly $40,000 in student loan debt she's carrying. According to the Washington Post, just 1.2 percent of federal loan recipients are currently participating in the program.

Cloos left UO to work for an agricultural nonprofit in the Portland area in hopes of qualifying for the federal public service loan forgiveness program, which will kick in if she can make payments for a decade and stay in that sector.

Tax-exempt nonprofit and government employees at federal, state and local levels qualify for the program. Other nonprofits that offer specific public services are also valid employers.

Cloos' monthly payments are capped to a portion her income at the nonprofit. She pays just $30 a month today. The income-based repayment is another requirement of the public loan forgiveness program.

President George W. Bush approved the program in 2007, and year the first students who participated are expected to soon start seeing their debt load forgiven.

But that loan forgiveness program's future is in jeopardy; the Trump administration cut it in its 2018 budget, though current participants are not expected to be affected.

Meanwhile Oregon has made it easier for future students to know what they're getting into.

State lawmakers recently approved a new law that will make it easier for students currently in college to know what they're facing financially once they leave school.

Starting in January, colleges and universities in Oregon will be required to relay important federal financial aid information to students in an easy-to-understand and straightforward way.

The new law, which applies to all public and private universities, community colleges, trade schools and other post-secondary institutions that accept federal financial aid, is intended to add a new level of transparency to the process. It is meant to ensure that students fully understand how much debt they are taking on to pay for their education and what their estimated loan payments will be once they graduate.

Devin Hutchings, communications director for the Oregon Student Association, said the bill helps "empower students to make more informed decisions" and keeps lenders and schools accountable.

Cloos said that bill should be a good thing. Students don't have time to process what the student loans could mean later in life.

It might help ease the student loan delinquency rate, which was 11.2 percent last year (those students who haven't made a payment in 90 days or more or are in default).

Senate Bill 253 requires that financial information be relayed to students in "a unified and comprehensive manner" and be written in "plain language that is easy to understand." Each year, schools must disclose:

The cost of tuition and fees to be paid at the time of notification.

The total amount of federal education loans being taken on at the time.

An estimate of the repayment cost, or a range which must include principal and interest, at the time of the notice.

The anticipated monthly payment, and the percentage of borrowing limit student has reached on each loan.